Dispensing grocery-cabinet.



R. I. BALLARD. DISPENSING GROCERY CABINET.

nruoumn nun Jun}: 11, 1908.

Patented May 18, 1909.

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' APPLICATION FILED mm: 1?. 190a. Patented May 18, 1909. 4 sums-sum a.

Qvihwana /OQ Mai R. I. BALLARD.

DISPENSING GROCERY CABINET.

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921,941. Patented May 18,1909.

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- Witnesses. l'huen'fior 5 REEQum-OL a a miter-neg UNITED STATES PATENT"OTFI*l'(/l.

RUFUS F. BALLAItD, OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS.

. DISPENSING GROCERY-CABINET.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 18, 1909. l

Application filed. June 17, 1908. Serial No. 438,916.

compartments for opening the same and weighing goods that may be discharged from any compartment, and to provide means in combination with the weighing means and the opening and closing means to cut oil the flow of goods automatically as soon as a predetermined quantity of goods has been deposited in the hop er.

One of the advantages of t iis invention is that the attendant or operator does not have to hold the compartment open. The operator can thus have time to attend to other mattels. A second hopper is provided so that the operator can wrap up one quantity of goods while another quantity is being delivered from one of, the compartments.

'The principal object is to provide ap-' paratus which 'is simple in construction and operation and which will save much time and afford the 'reatest possible convenience invending goo ls.

Other provisions are for advertising and indicating the kind of goods contained in each com artment.

Other jects and advantages will be fully explained in the'lollowing deseri tion and the invention will be more particu arly pointed out in the claims.

Reference is had to the accompan ing drawings whic'liform apart of-this app '08.- tion and specification.

' active view of a cabinet Figure 1 1s a persp in three sections. ig. 2 is a side elevation 'of one of the sections, artly in section to show the construction 0 the interior operating'parts. Fig. 3 is a vertical section, taken along the line a: a: of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the receivizlg hopper, looki at the left side of Fig. 2. ig.- 5 is a perspec We view of one of the cabinet sections. Fig. 6 is .a bottom view of the closing means of the ing for the three sections.

and? each have compartments-4, 5, 6, 7, and

all the compartments of a section. pipes 12 all terminate in a platform ,14 which hopper shown in Fig. 4. Fig. 7 illustrates a variation in the trip ing means for the automatic closing of t 6 com artments oi.

bins. Fig. 8 is a plan view o the tripping means shown in Fig. 7, also illustrating the manneref closing the compartments when the tri pin means have been actuated.

Sin n ar c aracters of reference are used to indicate the same partsthroughout the s'e.veral views.

A cabinet in three sections is illustrated in the drawings, each section beingrovided with separate dispensing means. he sections 1, 2, and 3 are-located in a common cos- 8. The section 2 has compartments 9, 10 and 11. Each com artment is provided with a pipe 12-which eads to a commonhopper 13 or to a hopper 13 which is commoa lto c is sus ended from the bottom of the section by re s 15. A slide 16 closes the mouth of" each pipe 12. Each slide 16 is attached to a pull ro 17 which-is provided with a button 18. The slidesjfi are held normally closing the pipes 12 b spiral springs 19 which are mounted on t e rods and attached to the guide bar 20 which is rigid with the bottom of-the platform 14 through which-the pull rods pass and the springs are attached to the rods 17. A pull on the rod 17 will open the pipe 12, but as soon as the rod is released the spiral spring 19 will cause the rod to shove e slide 16 across the bottom of the pipe 12. The name of the article of goods may be printed or otherwise placed on the button, each button bearing the name of the goods m the corresponding compartment or bin. Means are provided for holding the slides 16 open. -Keys 21 are mounted on the guideboard 22-. The guide-board 22 has ledges 23 through which the ends of the keys move freely. Each pull rod 17 has a notch 24 therein and each key 21 has a bend or ortion' at right angle to the bodyof the ey. This bend is adapted to drop into the notch 24' when the pull rod is drawn far-enougltirout ward to open a slide 16. When a key into the notch in the pull rod the rod ia-h d The sections 1 until the key is jarl p'ed out of the notch 24.-

Means are rovide {or tripping the keys 21 automatically. A tripping ar 25 is-mounted on the beam of asca e 26. The hopper 13 28, the front 6f the cabinet having arslot 29' for the movement of the 2'1... The weight representing the quantity of wanted is'placed on the seat 28, An additional scale beam 30 is attached to the scale so that small fractions of pounds may be indicated by a ea 31 which is movable on. the

beam 30. T e tripping bar125 is arranged relative to the kegs 21 so that a very slight movement of the ar will trip the key which is resting in the notch in oncof'the pull rods 17. The beam 30 is attached to the scale by means of arms 33 whichextend outside of the cabinet casing. With acabinet arranged as above described, the goods: having been placed into compartments, the kin and quantity of goods can be obtained by placin the we' ht representing the quantity of goo wante on the seat 28 and by pulling the button 18 which bears the name of the goods wanted. Goods will be discharged om therproper compartment into the ho r13 and as soon as the amount of '05s all into the ho per, the beam 25 will trip the ke and cut-o the discharge.

e bottom of the hopper is provided with a spring controlled door 32 which is pivotally connected with the bottomof the be per, the hopper 13 having a flange 34'to whic the door 32 is pivoted. A spring 35 holds the door 32 normallyclosed. A cord 36 is attaohed to the door and extended toward the front of the cabinet and a-rod 37 is attached to the cord and extended outside of the cabinet and provided with a handle 38. After the desired quantity of goods has been de ted in the hopper 13, a pull on the cord andle 38 will let the goods be discharged through the hopper 39 and espouted As soon as the goods are dischar and the handie 38 released the retract e spring 35 will close the door 32. The hoplper '13 has an ins clined flange 41 on which t e goods will first fall and shde downward the centralorifice 42. The object of this flange 41 is that the wei ht of the goods will commence to bear on 51c scale as soon as possible after leaving the compartmentl' If there was no sue flange as the e 41, there would be a considerable 'dribble'of goods between the door 16 and the top of the goods which would not be-p on'the scale at the moment the door was closed. The flange 41 will catch such dribble so that it will be on the scale practically as soon as i is discharged from the pipe 12.

formed by the main casing. are-provided with a series of pockets 44 for each s ide a:

Each compartment or bin of the cabinet ,is provided with a glass 43 through which the code in the compartment can be seen. In t manner the goods in the compartinents are advertised. It will be noticed that every compartment is so arranged that at least one side of the com iartment is he cabinets conpa'pcr bags or other wrap 'ngmatonal. esepockets are arranger on the 1 jower'front part of the cabinet so that the wrappinglinaterial is convenient to the discharge spouts 40 and to the weights and pull buttons.

7 and 8 illustrate a variation in the means for locking the pull rods 17 to hold the pipes 12 open. The guide board 2; is out down to the level of the platform 21. A rod 45' is mounted in brackets 46 which are attached to the platform 21.

The lock consists of the trip 47 which is rigid with the bar 48. The bar 48 is'pivotally mounted on the rod 45. The pullrod 17 is connected to the lock by means of a clip 4.) which is rigid with the rod 17 and by means of the link 50 which is pivotally connected to the ch: 49 and pivotally connected with the look by a ivot bolt 51. Fig. 7 shows the puil locked.

hen thetripping bar .25 strikes the bar 47 and moves t e same high enough to overcome the dead center, the retractile spring 19 will cause the locking and connecting arts to assume the position substantially as illus- .trated by dotted-outline in Fig. 7.

Haviti fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is,

1. A dispensing cabinet com rising a plurality of compartments, a sca e carrying a hopper, a pi e connected with each comartment an adapted to discharge into said opper, a spring controlled slide normallyl clos m each Pipe, a pull rod connected wit keg adapted to lock each pull rod to holdsai slide in the open position, and a trippin bar carried by said scale and adapted to un ockeach pull rod. 2. A dispensing cabinet com rising a plurality of compartments a sea e carrying a hopper, a ipe connected with each compartment an ada ted to discharge into said hopper, a slide or closin each pipe, a sprin actuated pull rod for eac pipe carrying eac slide and normall closing the pipe, each rod having a notch t erein, a gravity-actuated key for engaging each rod adapted to lock the rod in open position, and a tripping beam carried by said scale adapted to unlock said platform, a slide rod having a button bearing the name of goods in the compartment to which the rod is operatively connected, said rod carrying said slide, a reti'actile spring holding said slide normally closed, a gravityactualcd key for locking each pull rod in an open posiiioii, and a tripping beam carried by said scale adapted to trip said lrey to i'clcaso said rod.

4. A dispensing cabinet comprising a pinrality of bins, each bin having a glass light for cxpcsing th'cgoods to view, a scale carrying a hopper, each bin having a pipe adapted to discharge into said hopper,a spring-conirollcd slidc closin each pipe, a gravity key for locking each side in the open position,

mcaiis carried by said scale for unlocking said slide, a spring-actuated valve for retainmg the goods in said hopper until'the desired quantity of goods is obtained, and a pull rod connected to said valveandext'ended to the.

front of the machine.-

5. A dispensing cabinet comprising a plurality of com artments, a-weighin'g hopper common to al of said compartments, each compartment having a normally closed communication with said hopper means including a spring-actuated pull rod ipropening any oneor all of the communications with said hopper,,means for-automatically locking the opening means in open position,

means cooperating with said hop e1 for automatically unlocking said 100 ing means whereby each communication is closed at the moment a predetermined quantity of goods is delivered to,said hopper, a normally closed door for the bottom of said-hopper, and a pull rod for opening said door for the discharge of goods from said hopper.

6. A dispensing cabinet having a plurality of compartments, means for displaying the goods 1n each compartment, a hopper in communication with each compartment, a

"s ring-actuated pull rod for opening and 0 using achcompai'tment and can ing a button indicating the kind of goo s contained in the compartment with which the 1111 rod is operatively connected, a key ada ted to en age a notch in ,its co-acting pul -i'od, said opper having a door and a spring holding said doornormally closed, a

.key and cord for opening" saiddoor, and a hopper and a disc argc spout adapted to receive goods discharged from said first named hopper.

In testimony whereof, I set my hand -in the resence of two witnesses, this 12th day of RUFUS F. BALLARD.

Witnesses:

' L. JACKSON, R. B. SMITH. 

